UN 13510 & Trico Peak (13,321) by Brian Schultz Friday August 24, 2018

UN 13510:

Roundtrip mileage: 2.3 miles from Black Bear Pass road (elev 12,650')
Elevation gain: 950'
Start to finish: 2 hours 10 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

We drove the Black Bear Pass road off Highway 550 from Red Mountain Pass all the way to Black Bear Pass, unlike two years ago when we parked off the road lower down and walked up to the pass. The road (4x4), as of now, is in very good condition. To make our climb even shorter, we drove the road down the other side of the pass another half mile and parked near a gate, which was where we began for 13510.

We started at 8:20 AM by hiking up the old mining road past the gate. The road quickly disappears but becomes a serviceable rock trail that travels over lots of talus, some loose, to the ridge above (photo 1, photo 2). At the ridge we turned left and followed the easy south ridge to 13510. We arrived on top at 9:25 and pondered whether to attempt Trico Peak from the saddle on our return. Trico's north ridge looks very nasty and we eventually decided against it since it would be much easier to just drive back to Black Bear Pass and climb the south ridge.

Meanwhile, on our thirty minute stay on top we could see Telluride below, but not clearly because of haze from the fires out west. We spotted many 4x4 vehicles on the road below heading toward Telluride. We departed at 9:55 and were back at the truck at 10:40.

Trico Peak:

Roundtrip mileage: 1.0 miles from Black Bear Pass (elev 12,900')
Elevation gain: 450'
Start to finish: 1 hour
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

We drove back up to Black Bear Pass and started up Trico's south ridge at 11:05. A handy hiker's trail through the rocks made this another quick hike, and we were on top (photo 1, photo 2) at 11:30. It was fun to watch all the 4x4's at the pass below and their occupants milling about before we descended at 11:50. Near the bottom of the south ridge, we came across a solo female hiker whom we chatted with for a while. Even so, we were back at our truck at 12:05, making this a very short and easy outing. Actually, two short and easy outings on these peaks today.